Faerie Queen: The Finding
Chapter One: Memories of a Day
"All bars are the same. Dirty, smelly, and full of bakas."
Lady Sailor Augustine, friend to the sixth Queen of the Moon,
Serenity, and member of the Royal family of Venus, wondered then
just why it was that she was in a bar. Not just any bar, but a bad
bar in a bad part of Nioka. Not an easy reputation to achieve, much
less maintain, but they somehow managed to do it.
Nioka sprawled over nearly half of Mercury, under ground. It's
people weren't rich enough to have the Cooling Systems that the much
richer city of Hyros, the Capital had. While Hyros housed some of the
most advanced scinitific labratories in the System, as well as some of
the finest examples of pre-Silver Millinuim art, Nioka shared none of
it's sister city's glory. It was dark here, where the lighting had in
many places broken down, and it smelled of garbage, and worse.
Sailor sighed softly. The past two months had been hectic. To
most, it seemed as if the warrior from the planet Venus had merely
been chosen by the Queen to find the long lost Avatars. They didn't
know the truth. She had been 'chosen', sure. But not by Serenity,
nor any other mortal. It was destiny. This had been established when
she had first stepped foot on Earth. Sailor had immediatly been able
to sense things, feelings from another that she knew not.
*** FLASHBACK ***
'Wow.' Sailor store out of the window, nose pressed to the
glass. 'Earth sure is beautiful up close. I've never seen one like
this before. Well, I saw Venus, but that was a long time ago, when I
was a kid.' It had been ten years since she and her family had left
Venus for the Moon. Ten very long years. Sailor didn't have any
memories of her life on Venus, only seeing the orange-red planet
becoming smaller and smaller as they sped away to a new life. She had
been three years old when they had left. She was now thirteen, and
very proud of that fact. She was a 'kid' no longer. And as if to
prove it, she was going to Earth for the first time.
The blue-green planet grew larger in the window. She had had
to spend hours with the vidvision learning customs and language before
her senseis had said that she was ready to go. Gerune-sensei had been
the worst. Always talking in that weezey voice of hers, and never
getting to the point until _after_ you fell asleep.
But all that didn't matter now. The ship was about to land.
Sailor grinned in delight. She half heard the capton telling everyone
to put the saftey belts on again. She wasn't really paying attention
to him. They were almost there!
Sailor looked out the window again. The ground rushed up to
greet her. 'It's all so green' Then there was a stripe of
yellow-white, followed by darkness. 'The sea,' Sailor thought with no
small amount of awe. She had never seen anything so big before. It
stretched onwards, never seeming to end. There was a splotch of
white, a cirrus cloud. They plunged deeper still.
At last the ride was over. Sailor stood quakily, there had
been a bit of turbulence towards the end, but nothing she couldn't
handle. Sailor reached above her to grab her bag that rested on the
shelf above before walking out.
She was immediatly assulted with sensations. On the Moon
everything was monitered, the humitity in the air, the level of
oxegon, the scent of...of...well, what ever it was that the Moon
smelled like. This smell was different though. It was deep and wild,
and ever so much alive. Sailor hadn't ever smelled anything like it
before. She suddenly had the erge to run, free as the wind, and see,
_feel_ everthing that this planet had to offer. There too, mixed in
with the earth-scent was another, a feeling of darkness, one that scared
her.
"Sailor-chan?" a voice spoke to her, breaking the spell that
Earth had cast apon her.
She started slightly. "Er, hai, Micheals-san?"
Sean Micheals looked at his younger charge lightly. Although
he himself was only eighteen, an infant compared to many of the great
leaders, he had been given full responsiblity of the daughter of the
embassitor from Venus, Lady Augustine of the Royal House of Venus.
'Just my luck, too.' he thought.
Aloud he said, "Sailor-chan, I think that we should go meet
with your mother now. She's been expecting us." With that he
started to walk towards the Castle. 'It's good to be home.' He paused
to speak with a friend of his.
"Oh, okay, I guess," Sailor was too caught up in her own thoughts
to really comprehend what was going on. There was a, a -something-
calling her, not a voice, just a sensation. Pulling at her.
'Gomen, Micheals-san,' she thought to her 'protector', 'but I
have to find out what this is!' Sailor waited until Sean had his
attention drawn away before teleporting.
"Gomen, Sailor-chan. I didn't mean to exclude you" Sean called
back over his shoulder. He hadn't _meant_ to have ignored the kid for
the past five minutes, but Gurio-kun had vital information to give him
regarding the maritual statis of a certain young lady at court.
"Sailor-chan?" He turned to see no one there.
"Shimatta!"
***
"I'm going to be in sooo much trouble...I should port right now
back to Sean. He's probably worried." An image formed then in
Sailor's mind; a agonised Sean, weeping over her sudden disaperance.
'Oh, why didn't I tell her how much she meant to me? I shall never
meet another like her...and she's gone now! Oh Sailor-chan, my love,
where hast thou gone?' Sailor grinned at that thought. Sean was
definatly a hottie. Dark auburn hair, dreamy hazel eyes, a wonderful
bod, 'Forget it! Why would he spend jis time running after one
so much younger then he?'
The hall that she was walking in was huge. Tall walls, at
least fifty feet high lined the marble corrider. On them hung
paitings of the various members of Earth Royalty. The walls
themselves were a light grey, the marble of the floor rose. Every so
often there would be side passages leading back into the Castle. Most
of them led to guest rooms,all elegently and tastefully done, as was
the Geian style. Sailor stopped in front of one of these passages.
The calling was still there, louder then ever. But along with it was
a certain sense of fear and hatred that lingered despite all efforts
to eradicate it. It was then that she heard the scream.
It was loud, and high pitched, and full of fear. Sailor raced
towards it, she had to be there, had to protect that voice, who ever
it was. She turned a corner and skidded to a stop. Sailor's eyes
widened as she took in her surroundings. A young girl, maybe four
years old, was on the floor, crying for all that she was worth. She
had bright red hair, and green eyes, wet with tears. And on her
forhead there was a glowing circle with a cross inside. The symbol
earth.
"Shut up!" Sailor spun to face the new voice. A shadow was
reaching for the child. NO, not a shadow, a man dressed all in black.
Sailor shivered. The strange man -felt- cold. Wrapping her arms about
herself, Sailor moved between the monster and the girl.
"Leave her alone!" For the first time, he noticed her.
It stared at her for a long moment before begining to laugh. Sailor
sweatdroped.
"Amazing." he said, "Simply amazing. She has awoken you too,
eh?"
"Nani? What are you talking about?!?" Sailor was feeling
slightly annoyed. She hated being laughed at. The child look on
fearfully, both at her savior, and her attacker.
The shadow figure grinned. "The forces of light have sent
a child to do the impossible. A child! You can't be more then
twelve, if that!"
Nose in the air, Sailor retorted, "Humph! I'll have you know
that I'm thirteen! Not that it matters. You gonna leave the kid
alone, or do I hafta get nasty?" 'What am I saying? I can't take that
thing on!' In that moment, Sailor was wishing greatly that she had
thought to tell Sean where she was going to be, even if she hadn't
known at the time. Still, a part of her whispered that she couldn't
leave the girl defensless. **It's your job to protect them,**a voice
whispered.
**Huh? Protect who?**Sailor returned.
**The girl...don't let Amos get his hands on the girl! He'll
take her to his Queen and she will be lost"
"Protect the child...okay..." Sailor muttered to herself. "fine."
Moving into a more defenisve postion, Sailor turned to face the
monster. 'At least I have a name for him now,' she thought. 'Amos.'
"Stay away from that kid!" Sailor exclaimed in a thundering
voice. Amos just looked at her, grinning like crazy. She flushed
slightly. "And I mean it!"
"What ever you say, Finder, what ever you say." Amos laughed
shortly and raised his hand out, palm first. "I won't go anywhere
near her." His hand began to glow with a dark purple light. "I don't
have to." The child behind her cried out in fear and desperation
again, and Sailor spun about only to see her disaper in a dark cocoon.
She turned back to face her enemy, a look of hatred on her face.
"Give her back to me!"
"Oh, no, my little Finder. Not now. Not ever." With that Amos
saluted her and vanished in a column of night. Sailor slunk to the
floor and began to cry softly. She wasn't sure exactly what had just
happened, but she knew it was bad. Very, very bad. The voice in her
head, the one who had spoken to her earlier, whispered encoragment,
saying that they would find the next one, when the time came. Sailor
had only nodded slightly before falling into a deep and restless
sleep.
*** END FLASHBACK ***
Gunamitsi Aoi peeked out from her hiding place. No one would
notice her here, of which she was greatful. It was very hard to steal
something when the shopkeepers were watching your every move. Even
so, it would be difficult, they were as wary of their goods as the
King was of gold. Still, it should be too bad...
Aoi glanced out again. The street was busy, but not crowded.
The stand that she was looking at in particualier had three people at
it. Perfect. She bent her head, and consentrated hard. It had taken
her awhile to realise that she'd the Gift, one in five did. It had
taken even longer to figure out what her's was, and how to use it.
She was still learning.
Aoi glanced up, happy to see that her spell had been
successful. The street was filled with a dense grey fog that seemed
to cling to the stands and people. Hurridly, she darted across the
Square, and got to the shop. She didn't know why, but she had never
had a problem seeing through her self imposed fog. To her, it was as
bright as day.
She grabbed a few Kapango, sweet fruits from Venus, and a
handful of Bruin rolls before exiting the sceane. It would do her no
good to be caught. Not if she wanted the Division to find out about
her. If they did, then they would discover that she was living with a
pack of other kids like herself, the oldest one sixteen, under the
streets below where any were susposed to go. Then they all would be
packed off, and her family broken. Again.
Aoi didn't really remember her old family, a kind woman with
honey colored hair, and a dark man with a beard. She thought about it
as she munched on the fruit. Aoi didn't really even know how old she
was, she guessed about twelve, since it had been four years since she
had joined the Pack, and she couldn't have lived on her own long
before that.
Her fog was despirsing. Soon the shopkeeper would notice that
some things had 'vanished'. She was at least half a mile away from
him by now, but she could help but to feel nervous. She had the
distinct impression that someone was watching her. The street was
crowded, more so now then before. The keeper's voice rose up behind
her in anger. She forced herself to slow her steps. Never attract
attention to yourself, she berrated herself silently. To do so was to
invite the Division onto herself and the Pack. Aoi pushed herself
through the sea of people, trying to imatate a child at play. The
sensation of being watched grew stronger.
Aoi sighed as she saw the dark opening to the old drainage
facility before her. 'Through the hole and down the slide, that's the
way to the Pack', she thought chanting the rhyme beneith her breath.
Almost there...
And then she was pulled, tugged through space, into a dark
alley. Aoi lay sprawled on the ground for a moment, before a grating
voice brought her to her feet. She hadn't really heard what it had
said, she was too disorinatated for that. She scrambled into a
sitting position, blinking the haze from her eyes.
Finally she could see again. And her eyes focased on a man,
dressed all in black. He smiled slightly, and stretched a hand forth
towards her.
***
Sailor sighed, coming to the present again as her waitress
brought out her drink. No matter how may years had passed since then,
Sailor still had never been able to forget the girl's final scream.
She had been taken back to the Moon soon after, and sent in to the
Queen. It had been then that she had realised her 'destiny' so to say.
She was a Finder, a member of a very select group, only one
born in a generation. Generally they were a bit older then Sailor had
been when she had been found, but then, it was thought that the Earth
Senshi had been born way too soon. 'Which means that the others will
probably be waking up about now,' Sailor thought to herself.
She leaned back in her chair and glanced about the room. Not
really the type of place that she frequently visited, but what could
she say? Mercury wasn't really the cleanest of planets. The division
between the rich and the poor too great for that.
Sailor could _feel_ her, close by. She wasn't certain what
this girl would look like, or what she would act like, but she wasn't
about to let another one slip through her fingers. Sailor downed the
rest of her drink, and left a couple of credits on the table as a tip
before exiting. She wasn't going to find the Merconian Senshi by
drinking poor ale in some third rate bar. And time was of the
essence. She could _feel_ the old worries coming back, the old pull,
the same as with the Earthling Senshi. And the same sence that all
was not well.
But she was older now. A full twelve years, actually. She was
no longer the scared thrirteen year old that didn't even know what she
was doing as she stood against Amos. No, now she was a twenty-five
year old that had no idea what she was doing as she stood against
Amos. But he would not laugh. Not this time.
He was here though. Sailor could feel him. But he would not
make his move until after she made hers. No doubt he already knew
where all the Senshi were. He had had the time to look and search for
them, time that Serenity had denied her.
'But that doesn't matter now.' Sailor told herself firmly.
She would find them all when the time was right, and even get the
young Earthling away from Mettalica's evil hands. For now though, she
had to find Mercury. She was close by. Sailor was certain.
In this city, this district, this area. Within a mile. She would find
her.
Sailor gave the street a sodelong glance. Now was not the time
to be wrapped up in one's own thoughts. Not with the beggers and
looters that periodically mobbed people. It was dark, fitting
perhaps, but certainly not welcome. You could never be quite sire
what hid in the dark...
She was aware of the eyes that tracked her from the midnight
windows, showing her to the one's inside, yet prevent her own veiwing
of them. The skin on the back on her neck prickled. _He_ was here as
well. Amos. Sailor glanced about her. How had he known?
But it didn't matter now. She had to find Mercury, and get
back to the ship, _fast_. And she was, that way! Sailor turned a
corner, to reveal a young girl, pinned to a wall. She was not much
more then twelve, if that, with shoulder length deep blue/black hair,
which was now flying wildly in the midst of a magical grip. Mercury.
What conserned Sailor more, though was the one holding her. A
shadow, carved from darkness gripped the ypung girl about her neck
with one hand. One that she had had nightmares about for years. Amos.
But this time things will be dofferent, she thought to herself,
pulling together. Sailor blinked, and slowly readied her throwing
dagger. It glinted in the dim light as she pulled it over her
shoulder. "Come on, show me!" the words were of the sound of nails
going over a glass.
"Show you what?!?" Mercury, still in his grip struggled uselessly.
Amos ignored her, sending forth another blast of power. Vaguly,
Sailor wondered if he had tortured the young girl in the corridor in
the same way, so many years back. She launched her knife at Amos'
back, just as the girl's forehead erupted in blue light, the signal Mercury
clearly visable at her brow. Amos smiled, but it was a smile filled
with vindictive glee, not meant for comfort at all. He reached out
his free hand towards her, and the darkness streamed forth from it,
just like before. The Sailor's dagger hit him hard in the shoulder,
causing his consentration to be broken. At the same time, Sailor
reached forth her own hand, light emerging from it to conseal Mercury in a
brillent cocoon. It winked out, taking the young girl with it.
Sailor smiled her own smile then. She was safe. She was at the ship,
scared probably, confused certainly, but she was safe.
Amos spun around. Sailor stood, a catish grin on her face,
awaiting his next move. His eyes roamed over her body, until they at
last came to her face, where they narrowed in recognition. "Oh. It's
_you_. I might have known." His voice was waspish, the grating sound
gone.
Sailor smiled at him brightly. She was annoying him, and
having a damn good time of it, too. "You remember?" She gave him her
best innocent look, batting her eyes at him.
"Of course I remember. Who could forget the mouse sent to do
the impossible? Though, it appears as if," his eyes trailed over her
again, a blush that she refused to let show rising to her cheeks, "the
mouse has grown up after all. Where's the girl?"
"Where you'll not get her. I've one now, and I'm soon to
find more."
He laughed. "Don't think that you've won because you found a
single Senshi. They're are still others out there."
"There are many. And we are in a race to get them."
"Racing indeed. A race that I intend to win."
Sailor narrowed her eyes. "Then why haven't you already?
There was plenty of time between then and now." He didn't reply,
but his whole precense seemed to change, become more threatening. "It
seems to me to be quite an odd coninsidance, does it not to you? I'll
admit, I don't really know a lot about my job, save that the Senshi are
to be found, and I'm the one to do that." She paused for a breath, taking
careful note on the effect of her words on her emenmy. "But I think that
it's awful strangw that you showed up only after I arrived on a planet,
don't you?"
"Coincidences can be astounding indeed,"
"But I don't think that it's a coincidence. You could have
killed me that time, thirteen years again, and yet you spared me,
knowning that I would standa threat to your own retrieval of the
Senshi. There was a reason for it, wasn't there?" He remained silent
that time, his dark eyes glaring at her, boring holes into her own.
"You didn't kill me because you need me to locate the Senshi."
Sailor tossed her own glare back to him. "For all your power,
you can distinguish one girl from another. You can't Awaken
them, can you? And do you know why not?"
"Tell me, if you think you know,"
"That's my job. As the Finder, only my presence
can Awaken the Senshi!"
Amos growled softly. "perhaps the light did know what they
were doing, after all." He smirked, his visage changing from dark to
ironic. "We will have the Senshi. All of them. And who knows?" He
looked her over a third time. "Maybe you as well. Until next time,
little Mouse." With that Amos gave her a florid bow and vanished.
Sailor leaned back against a lamp pole, breathing deeply, before
calling her dagger back to her hand. It hadn't caused any real
damage to Amos, though it had served it's purpose. Sailor sighed before
'porting back to her ship. There was much to be done.
And not much time to do it in.
Authors Notes:
Very short, I'm sorry. But I have the first chapter done!
The next one will be out, sometime...in the near future...I hope!
This story is kind of different then the rest in that the only
commen threads that I have with others is the names. Names being
Silver Milliunium, Senshi, and Serenity. All the other stuff here is
mine. Aoi, Sailor, and Amos, all mine, and good old Sean too, I
suspose. Also, Serenity's charater in this is mine, that is Katherine.
I really would not like it if you used that sceane in one of your own
fics. I'm sure that it would be wonderful, but even so...
I plan to have this last a good ten chapters, I don't think
that there will be an epilogue. But then again, I really don't know.
I also intend to have TUiD 2 _&_ 3 out this week. I tried to send it
in before, I don't know what happened. It's really offbeat. DRatQotW1
should be out this week as well, it's a long title, but I think that
it is worth it! Is there anything else? Hmmm...oh yeah! Go read
Crystal Heart-sama's stuff, her new story looks great. Also,
Razzz-sama's First Love is wonderful.
Let me know what you think. I want to know of you like, or if you
don't, and why. I'm always here, even if I don't respond on time!
Dremdancer
dremdancer@hotmail.com